Health leaders condemn racist violence in Belfast

[Pelican Press 0]

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Health leaders condemn ******* ********* in Belfast

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Health unions have condemned the recent rioting in Belfast that followed anti-migration protests

Northern Ireland’s most senior health leaders have come together to condemn the recent ******* ********* and disorder in Belfast.

Fourteen professional health bodies representing thousands of doctors, nurses and midwives, and allied health professionals, have jointly said they are “appalled by the scenes of rioting in Belfast this week.”

Meanwhile members of the Northern Ireland Confederation for Health, and Social Care (NICON) has said it will “redouble its efforts” to ensure staff from ******* minorities feel safe to stay where they live and work.

It added that the local health and social care system was “completely dependent on its ******* ********* staff”.

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Prof Mark Taylor said ******* ********* staff are “part of the very fabric of our health and care system”

NICON is the voice of the organisations working across Northern Ireland’s integrated Health and Social Care system (HSC).

Its spokesperson Prof Mark Taylor, said NICON highly valued “******* ********* communities who contribute much to our society, and more specifically we highly value our ******* ********* HSC staff”.

“They are part of the very fabric of our health and care system,” he said.

“We spend a lot of time and money attracting skilled and compassionate staff from other parts of the world.

“Our members have been doing everything we can to support and care for colleagues.

“To the ringleaders of this *********, we want to highlight that any continuation of the attacks or intimidation will hurt the whole of our society.”

The professional health bodies’ statement which includes representatives of surgeons, nurses, GPs, pathologists, anaesthetists and the Allied Health Professionals Federation, also said its “unacceptable that local businesses have been attacked and that as a consequence, health service staff feel under threat.”

“There are also reports of nurses deciding to leave Northern Ireland because they feel so unsafe,” the statement said.

“We stand in solidarity with our colleagues in the health service who work tirelessly every day to help patients in times of greatest need.”

On Wednesday,

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in what police have described as a racially motivated hate ******.

The front window of a house in Erskine Park was smashed and a brick thrown through the windscreen of a car parked outside in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

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Beverly Simpson said she was “alarmed, dismayed, terrified and shocked” by the *********

One nurse told the BBC NI that colleagues in the Western Trust and across Northern Ireland were “fearful and are considering leaving” following the recent disorder.

Beverly Simpson, who is originally from Guyana and now lives and works in Londonderry, said she had been shocked by the scenes she had seen in Belfast.

There has been no such violent scenes in Derry, but Beverly feels that many nurses across the healthcare system here will leave if things do not change.

“I’m alarmed, dismayed, terrified and shocked,” she told BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme.

Ms Simpson said many of her colleagues in the health service were foreign and questioned how hospitals and GPs could survive without them.

“If we all ‘go back’, who is going to run the healthcare system?” she said.

“The majority of the doctors and nurses I have worked with are all foreign, either in the private sector or the NHS.”

Ms Simpson has a son in Belfast with a young family and said she cannot sleep fearing something may happen to him.

“I am alarmed – I don’t sleep as a mother – I live in *****,” she said.

“I have been speaking to my son and I did say to him to come up to Derry, but he has a partner and he has a child in Belfast – Belfast is home, he is a citizen.”

‘Our members are very worried’

Overseas workers make up a huge part of Northern Ireland’s health and social care workforce.

International nurses’ makeup around 39% of the care home workforce, while international care assistants’ makeup around 35% of the care home workforce.

According to the Independent Health and Care Providers as it’s unable to recruit the numbers that are required locally it relies on staff from abroad to work in different health care settings.

Chief executive Pauline Shepherd told BBC News NI members were “concerned about how they can safely travel to provide care to their clients”.

“Our members are reporting that staff are very worried about their safety,” she said.

“Some have reported that staff have been threatened and slogans painted on walls.”

Meanwhile the five Northern Ireland health trusts have said the ********* is deeply “saddening and concerning”.

The Southern Health Trust said while it was not aware of any specific incidents in its area, “understandably some of our international colleagues are fearful and anxious”.

A spokesperson said the trust had a “strong reputation for supporting international colleagues” and had written to all staff to emphasize its “commitment to championing equality, diversity, and inclusion”.

The Belfast Health Trust added it had a zero-tolerance approach to abusive behaviour which will not be tolerated.

A spokesperson said it had a dedicated helpline to offer confidential support with psychological therapists available to listen and support.

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